With the Cannes Film Festival winding down over the next couple of days, the field for Best Actor is narrowing own. There’s relative newcomer Oscar Isaac, who stars in the Coens’ “Inside Llewyn Davis.” And French favorite Matthieu Amalric has two movies here– “Jimmy P’ and “Venus in Fur.”

But Best Actor looks like it’s coming down to two Hollywood stars who are now veterans and Oscar winners from the past: Michael Douglas, and Bruce Dern. Douglas is the favorite for Behind the Candelabra, all about Liberace. Dern stars in Alexander Payne’s “Nebraska.”

Robert Redford says almost no words in “All Is Lost,” where he’s adrift at sea. And he’s not eligible for any prizes because the movie is not in competition.

Of course another Hollywood old timer rolls into town today, too. Jerry Lewis stars in “Max Rose.” Lewis hasn’t starred in a movie since– well, a long time ago. But the French love him. Lewis’s trip to Cannes is marred however by a letter from his long time French publicist, Yanou Collart. The famed flack severed ties with Lewis this week because she says he wouldn’t pay her. Collart was responsible for bringing Lewis to Cannes, and helped with his Lifetime Achievement Award at the Oscars a few years back.

As for the three way race, Douglas has the edge. Dern’s film debuts tonight. We’ll see what happens next…

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Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.